Naie 奈井江町

• Official explanation. The town says the name is a corruption of the Ainu word nae (ナヱ), meaning "a river with much sand" (砂多き川)⁴.
• Yamada Shūzō's theory. The Ainu place-name scholar Yamada Shūzō (山田秀三) suggested a different root: naye (ナイェ), the locative form of nay (ナイ, "river"). On this reading the name simply means "at the river"¹⁵.
• Early records. The 1870 survey record already names two rivers, the "Naei" (ナエイ) and the "Nae" (ナエ)⁹. Today's Naie River (奈井江川) is 23.6 km long. It rises on the western slope of Mt. Bibai (美唄山) and joins the Ishikari River inside the town¹⁵.

• Ainu era. Little is recorded about Ainu settlement inside today's town boundaries. The Ainu river names ("Naei" and "Nae") are the main trace in early records⁹.
• 1869–1870: first survey. In October 1869 the whole of Sorachi District was placed under Date Kuninao (伊達邦直). In May 1870 he sailed up the Ishikari River with a survey party of 17, landed at Naie, and set boundary posts at the mouths of the two rivers⁹¹⁶.
• 1874: coal survey. The American geologist Benjamin Smith Lyman (ライマン) went up the Naie River to survey the coalfield⁹.
• 1886–1891: road, post station and railway. The Kamikawa temporary road, today's National Route 12, opened in 1886¹⁶. A government post station (駅逓) followed in August 1889. Naie Village was created from part of Takikawa Village in May 1890. Naie Station opened in July 1891 on the new railway between Iwamizawa and Utashinai⁹.
• 1893–1895: land grants and farm settlers. Large land leases were granted to men from Hiroshima (和田郁次郎, about 248 ha), Iwate (伊藤広幾 and 佐藤庄五郎, about 188 ha), Kanagawa (the Yokohama businessman Takashima Kaemon 高島嘉右エ門, about 826 ha) and Saitama (清水宗徳, about 248 ha). Each recruited tenant farmers. In May 1894, 30 households of tondenhei engineers (屯田工兵) settled at Chashinai (茶志内). In 1895 Kyōgoku Takanori (京極高徳) leased the Chashinai tondenhei reserve for farming. The Takashima (高島) and Kyōgoku (京極) district names come from these farms⁹.
• 1895–1903. Coal was found in December 1895, and mining began in 1896. Paddy rice was first grown in 1895 with water from the Naie River. In 1903 the village was renamed Sunagawa Village⁹.
• 1923–1944: part of Sunagawa. Sunagawa became a town in 1923. Morinaga built a condensed-milk plant here in 1924–25, and Sumitomo Mining began large-scale mining in May 1938. In April 1944 Naie split from Sunagawa Town as Naie Village, and it became a town in September 1950⁹¹⁶.
• 1949–1968: Mitsui's colliery railway. Mitsui Mining ran a private railway about 10 km east from Naie Station to Higashi-Naie¹⁷.
• 1960s–1973: the coal era ends. The population peaked at 18,458 in the 1960 Census⁶. The mines then closed one by one:
  • Sumitomo's Naie mine in 1963.
  • Mitsui's Naie mine in September 1967, which cost the town about 5,000 residents.
  • Shin-Naie in 1969 and Dainichi Kōsan in 1971.
  • The Ishikari mine, where a coal-dust explosion in November 1972 killed 31 men. It closed in January 1973, and the Takiguchi mine followed in June 1973, leaving the town with no mines⁹.
• 1968 onward: power and industry. Hokkaido Electric's coal-fired Naie Power Station opened its two 175 MW units in 1968 and 1970¹⁸. Factories came in to replace mining jobs: Kamaya Electric (釜屋電機, 1969) was the first company attracted to the former coalfield, and Hokkaido Sumiden Precision (北海道住電精密) opened in 1980⁹.
• 1981 flood. A downpour of 400.4 mm broke the Naie River levee in August 1981, causing about ¥7.36 billion in damage⁹.
• 1985–2003: welfare and independence. The first Naie Industrial Festival took place in 1985. In 1988 the town opened Kenjuen (健寿苑), recorded as Japan's first geriatric health facility run by a municipality. The friendship with Hausjärvi began in April 1995. The open hospital-clinic scheme also started in 1995, and the roadside station building was finished that November. The children's-rights ordinance took effect in April 2002, and the October 2003 referendum rejected a merger. In a parallel children's vote, 84.19% of pupils also said no⁹.
• 2019–2026. The Naie Power Station was suspended on 31 March 2019 and is due to be decommissioned by March 2027¹⁸. The Minakuru community plaza opened in April 2022¹⁹, and Naie Station became unstaffed the same month²⁰. A new town hall opened in May 2024⁵. Hokkaido Chūō Bus has withdrawn its Takikawa–Naie route. From October 2026 a bus run by the Bibai driving school takes its place²¹.

• Setting. Naie lies in central Sorachi, on the northern Ishikari Plain. To the east are the Yūbari Mountains (夕張山系), which form the border with Ashibetsu. To the west is the Ishikari River, which forms the border with Urausu and Shintotsukawa. The flat, fertile farmland continues south into Bibai and north into Sunagawa⁴.
• Size and land use. The town measures 18.9 km east to west and 9.9 km north to south. Forest covers 46.79% of the land, upland fields 21.50% and rice paddies 20.66%²².
• Mountains. Mt. Bibai (美唄山, 986 m), 芦奈江岳 (930 m), Naie-yari (奈井江槍, 830 m), Mukai-yama (向山, 311 m) and Niwa-yama (爾波山, 270 m)⁵.
• Rivers. The Ishikari River, the Naie River, the Toyonuma-Naie River (豊沼奈江川), the Futamatasawa River (二股沢川) and the Chashinai River (茶志内川)⁵.
• Parks. None of the sources consulted mention a national, quasi-national or prefectural natural park in the town. The main green spaces are the town-run Niwayama Forest Nature Park and the upper Naie River valley.
• Climate (official summary). The climate is fairly inland in character, with highs around 30°C and lows around −20°C. The first frost comes in late October and lasting snow cover in early December, and the snow melts in early April⁴.
• Climate (data book). The town's data book reprints Japan Meteorological Agency figures for 2008–2014, without naming the observation point:
  • Annual mean temperature: 7.0–7.9°C.
  • Highest temperature: 33.2°C (2014).
  • Lowest temperature: −26.2°C (2010 and 2012).
  • Annual precipitation: 886–1,496.5 mm²².

• Rice. Rice is the core of local farming. Yumepirika covers more than half of the town's rice acreage, and Nanatsuboshi and Kirara 397 are also grown²³. From 2009 to 2011 the area had Hokkaido's highest share of low-protein rice three years running. The town also has a snow-cooled rice warehouse, "Yukimai no Kura – Yume no Kura" (雪米の蔵～ゆめのくら～)¹¹. The peak year for shipments was 1968, at 181,279 bales⁹.

• Other farm products. Melons, tomatoes, mini tomatoes and buckwheat²³.

• Farm structure. In 2010 the town had 217 farm households, 184 of them selling farms, with an average of 10.37 ha each²². Naie's co-op merged with Sunagawa's in February 1998 to form JA Shin-Sunagawa⁹.

• Manufacturing. Factories are the town's other pillar. In 2013, 12 plants with 915 workers shipped goods worth about ¥24.0 billion. The main firms are:

  • Hokkaido Sumiden Precision (cemented-carbide tools, about 500 staff)
  • Kamaya Electric (chip resistors)
  • Hokkaido Denki (electric wire)
  • Hokkaido Precision Tool (北海道精密ツール)
  • Ishiguro Casting (plant machinery)
  • Ota Seiki (electronic parts)

  The town's share of the Sorachi Chūkaku Industrial Park (空知団地) at Chashinai covers about 48.8 ha²². In 2009 Ota Seiki was chosen as one of Japan's "300 vibrant small manufacturers" (元気なモノ作り中小企業300社)⁹.

• Energy. Hokkaido Electric's Naie Power Station burned domestic coal to produce 350 MW. It was mothballed in 2019 and is scheduled for decommissioning by March 2027. In April 2025 the company signed a partnership agreement with local municipalities on how the site will be used afterwards¹⁸.

• Population. Numbers have fallen from 18,458 in 1960 to 5,120 in 2020 and 4,527 in August 2026⁶. Deaths far outnumber births: in 2013 the town recorded 28 births and 98 deaths²².

• Revitalization. Efforts include:

  • The Minakuru plaza (2022), a gathering place for all ages that doubles as a bus waiting room¹⁹.
  • A music-themed guesthouse²⁴.
  • Furusato nozei donations through several portals²⁵.
  • Rebranding around the "Zudōn" catchphrase¹⁰.

• Visitor numbers. No municipal tourist count was found.

• Bitchū Kagura (備中神楽). This masked Shinto dance-drama came to Naie through its exchange with Nariwa, now part of Takahashi City in Okayama. Nationally it is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. A preservation society formed in Naie in 1986 and now has about 13 members, who perform at local festivals⁴⁰.
• Shrines and temples.
  • Naie Shrine (奈井江神社) grew from a small shrine built in 1892 on a Saitama settler's land and was formally founded in 1899⁹.
  • Henjō-ji (空知山遍照寺), a Kōyasan Shingon temple whose main image is a Thousand-Armed Kannon, is No. 12 on the Hokkaido Thirty-Three Kannon pilgrimage⁴¹.
• Culture venues.
  • Concerto Hall (文化ホール「コンチェルトホール」): 246 seats, a one-minute walk from JR Naie Station, closed Mondays⁴². It opened in November 1993⁹.
  • The Social Education Center (社会教育センター) at Aza-Naie 152-1 houses the community hall, library and local history museum (郷土館)⁴³. The museum opened in January 1981, and the town also has a pottery center (陶芸センター, 1985)⁹.
• Town songs. "Naie Ondo" (奈井江音頭) was chosen by public contest in 1964, and "Shin-Naie Ondo" (新奈井江音頭) followed in 1980⁹.

Little is documented about Ainu history within Naie itself. No Ainu cultural facility or museum exhibit was found in the sources consulted. The Ainu legacy survives mainly in place names: the town name, the Naie River, and the district name Kinausunai (字キナウスナイ), where the power station stands⁴¹⁵²².

• Takahashi City (高梁市), Okayama Prefecture.
  • The friendship began with Nariwa Town (成羽町) in July 1982⁹⁴⁰.
  • It was re-signed with Takahashi City in February 2007, after Nariwa became part of Takahashi⁹.
  • Student exchanges began in 1985⁴⁰.
  • Japanese Wikipedia gives 1983⁵. The town's records give 1982.
• Hausjärvi (ハウスヤルビ), Finland.
  • Friendship signed in April 1995¹⁴⁹. Japanese Wikipedia gives 1997⁵, but the town's own pages give 1995.
  • Hausjärvi lies about 70 km north of Helsinki and has about 8,800 residents. Its health-care and welfare model is a reference for Naie.
  • Delegations travel every year. In FY2024 the mayor and students visited from 26 September to 4 October¹⁴.

• Kita Shūji (北修二, 1925–2007). Member of the House of Councillors for Hokkaido (1977–1995). He headed both the Hokkaido Development Agency and the Okinawa Development Agency in 1992–93⁵², and became Naie's fourth honorary citizen in 1997⁹.
• Kita Ryōji (北良治, 1936–2021). Mayor for eight terms (1986–2018). He championed welfare and medical care and wide-area cooperation among neighboring towns, and chose independence over merger⁵³.
• Kita Katsutarō (北勝太郎). The first head of Naie Village in 1944. He was named an honorary citizen in 1960⁹.
• Yumiko Kayukawa (粥川由美子, b. 1970). A manga artist and illustrator born in Naie, now based in Seattle⁵⁴.